Belle's name is a guide to the beauty not only of her face but of her character. Good-natured and charming, she is devoted to her father with whom she lives. Writer Linda Woolverton says, "Howard Ashman and I felt strongly about making Belle an intelligent woman" and so we learn early on of her love of books and of reading.

Her unusual background (her father is an eccentric inventor) sets Belle apart from the other villagers and is one of the reasons why she feels somehow different from them. Yet, despite this, she is a popular girl who is not remote from other people - just a little different. As director Robert Jess Roth says, she has to be an attractive personality as well as a pretty girl - "Everybody must fall in love with her as the Beast does."

He makes the point that this is an intelligent heroine as well as a courageous one, that she is a "woman who is thrust into a situation that challenges all her qualities." The Beast recognises that these qualities are unusual. When he makes her a present, it is not a dress or jewels, but a library.

In all the long years since the spell was cast upon him, the Beast despaired of finding someone to love him. Against all the odds, a beautiful woman has found her way into his castle. He may, through his library, appeal to her mind. But the crucial question is - can he ever hope to win her heart?